New Delhi, March 22 -- It is impossible to tell how and when the current war in West Asia will end because we do not know what the United States-specifically President Donald Trump-wants out of it.

Israel wants to expand through military domination of the region. Iran wishes the same but at this point is likely to be content with regime survival and deterrence.

The Gulf's Arab states sought to create space for stability and growth by outsourcing security to the US, but have come to realize that they cannot escape the strategic costs of such an arrangement. It is unclear what Trump's political goals are and how they might affect Washington's geopolitical interests in the region.

So we cannot predict the course of this increasingly destr...